Foreign policy, neighbors first<\/p>\n
By Kornelius Purba<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): President Megawati Soekarnoputri has chosen the
\nPhilippines as the first country she will visit since replacing
\nAbdurrahman Wahid last month. There is no clear reason why
\nMegawati decided on Manila as the first stop on her one-week
\nintroductory visit to the members of the Association of Southeast
\nAsian Nations (ASEAN), which started on Tuesday -- except that
\nPresident Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is a family friend.<\/p>\n
In diplomacy, a first destination is normally well thought-out
\nbecause it is always regarded as a strong reflection of the
\ncountry's foreign affairs policy directions under its new leader.<\/p>\n
Abdurrahman visited Singapore shortly after his election in
\nOctober 1999. The visit was very important not just for improving
\nrelations with the city-state after they had been damaged by his
\npredecessor B.J. Habibie, but also for wooing back the Asian
\nChinese business community which had lost confidence in Indonesia
\nfollowing the nationwide riots that preceded Soeharto's fall in
\nMay 1998.<\/p>\n
\"This is a visit to an old friend, because Arroyo's father was
\na friend of Megawati's father Sukarno,\" said a senior diplomat at
\nthe Ministry of Foreign Affairs.<\/p>\n
Both Megawati and Arroyo are the daughters of former
\npresidents. Arroyo served as Joseph Estrada's vice president
\nbefore his fall earlier this year. Megawati held the
\ncorresponding position in Indonesia under President Abdurrahman
\nuntil July this year.<\/p>\n
Megawati's tour has raised some eyebrows, although she is
\nactually only following the tradition of the 10-member ASEAN
\nwhere a new leader is expected to introduce himself or herself to
\nthe leaders of fellow member countries.<\/p>\n
Next month she is also scheduled to meet with U.S. President
\nGeorge W. Bush in Washington and Japanese Prime Minister
\nJunichiro Koizumi in Tokyo. She will also address the United
\nNations General Assembly in New York.<\/p>\n
Megawati faces a public which is scrutinizing her every move,
\nwho does not want her to repeat Abdurrahman's erratic foreign
\naffairs policies where he spent billions of rupiah on visiting
\nmore than 40 countries within 21 months, with no tangible results
\nto show for all the air miles.<\/p>\n
Abdurrahman did not just introduce himself to the other ASEAN
\nleaders in 1999, but before he was ousted he even went beyond the
\ncall of tradition by visiting Bangkok and Manila to present
\nhimself to new Thai Prime Minister Shinawatra Thaksin and
\nPresident Arroyo.<\/p>\n
In his first visits, Abdurrahman received a warm welcome from
\nworld leaders including U.S. President Bill Clinton, British
\nPrime Minister Tony Blair and Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
\nAbdurrahman insisted his overseas trip would help him in settling
\ndomestic problems and attracting foreign investment.<\/p>\n
Abdurrahman's predecessor B.J. Habibie only made one bilateral
\nvisit, to Malaysia, during his 17-month tenure, and chose the
\nASEAN summit in December 1998 in Hanoi for the introductory
\nceremony. In a demonstration of his displeasure against the
\nleaders of Singapore, which he described as a mere red dot
\ncompared to the huge Indonesia, he invited the Philippines'
\nJoseph Estrada to meet with him in Batam, an island located only
\na few miles from Singapore.<\/p>\n
Megawati's senior aides have emphasized that Megawati fully
\nrealizes she will be unlikely to achieve much on the
\ninternational stage as long as the country's political and
\neconomic situation remains chaotic.<\/p>\n
State Secretary\/Cabinet Secretary Bambang Kesowo said Megawati
\nwould prioritize much more urgent domestic affairs and would only
\nfocus her attention on ASEAN, given the crucial role of
\nIndonesia, ASEAN's largest member, to the organization's future.<\/p>\n
Bambang hinted that the government would concentrate on
\nrestoring security, and ending the prolonged economic crisis and
\nthe disintegration threat hanging over the nation, thus creating
\npolitical and economic stability.<\/p>\n
\"Who will listen to you if you can't even keep your own house
\nin order?\" Bambang said during a recent conversation.<\/p>\n
Indonesian envoy to Japan Sumadi Brotodiningrat once
\ncomplained that it was very difficult to promote his country to
\nJapanese investors as long as the domestic situation was far from
\nconducive.<\/p>\n
In her state-of-the-nation address on Aug. 16, Megawati only
\ndevoted one paragraph to explaining her foreign policy stance, in
\nwhich she mentioned Indonesia's preparations for the
\nimplementation of free trade involving ASEAN.<\/p>\n
\"We are also facing a short-term challenge which we must
\nrespond to with hard work, namely our participation in the ASEAN
\nFree Trade Area and the World Trade Organization ...,\" Megawati
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
New Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda described
\nASEAN as the cornerstone of Indonesia's foreign policy. He
\nrepeated the President's determination to implement a free and
\nactive foreign policy, to restore the state and the nation, and
\nto recover the trust of foreign countries and organizations.<\/p>\n
\"ASEAN will remain a cornerstone of our foreign policy,\"
\nHassan said.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has practically lost its leadership position in
\nASEAN since the economic crisis hit the country in 1997, followed
\nby Soeharto's fall in May 1998. Indonesia was internationally
\nrecognized as the leader of the regional forum and the power
\nvacuum has seriously affected ASEAN's effectiveness and
\ninternational clout. ASEAN's existence is even questioned by many
\nin the international media.<\/p>\n
In the public eye, the annual informal summit of ASEAN plus
\nJapan, China and South Korea has become more of a forum for the
\nleaders of the guest participants, with ASEAN itself sidelined in
\nthe coverage.<\/p>\n
Even some ASEAN leaders, including Malaysian Prime Minister
\nMahathir Mohamad, openly called on their people to learn from the
\nreform process in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Before large pictures of the victims of riots in Indonesia,
\nMahathir told a gathering of his UMNO (United Malays National
\nOrganization) ruling party that such conditions were not the kind
\nof reform that Malaysia wanted.<\/p>\n
ASEAN needs Indonesia's leadership in uniting its members in
\nfacing rapid global changes, because no other leader, even
\nSingapore's Goh Chok Tong or the outspoken Mahathir, have been
\nable to fill the leadership vacuum since the economic crisis.<\/p>\n
The Singaporean leader has repeatedly said that the return of
\na strong Indonesia would help restore ASEAN's influence.<\/p>\n
But, again, who will listen to Indonesia when it is not able
\nto satisfactorily deal with its own domestic upheavals?<\/p>\n
The author is a staff writer at The Jakarta Post.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/foreign-policy-neighbors-first-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }